Double Leg Bridge

NOTES:  Difficulty Level:  15%

Start to push your hips upwards by pressing down with your palms on the floor, and as you do so, also put a slight squeeze on your buttocks.  Do not come up too far!  Only go up to where your back is straight from the hips to the shoulders.  Your head and shoulders stay on the ground.  Pause at the top for at least several seconds, then relax back down again.  At the bottom, make sure you fully relax again before repeating.

The double leg bridge, also known as the glute bridge, is a straightforward yet incredibly effective exercise for strengthening the posterior chain. This often-overlooked muscle group plays a pivotal role in overall strength and stability. The double leg bridge is an excellent starting point for beginners and a must-have in any athlete’s training regimen. It targets the glutes, hamstrings, and lower back, helping to improve posture and prevent injuries. By consistently practising the double leg bridge, you can build a robust foundation for more advanced exercises and everyday activities, empowering you to take control of your physical well-being.

Learn more about the correct form and benefits of the Double Leg Bridge

A discussion about Back Injuries & how gym & pilates can help prevent or fix many of them

The muscles of the Posterior Chain are:

• Upper Back

• Lats

• Spinal Erectors

• Glutes

• Hamstrings

• Calves

The most common areas of injury in sports (and likely in areas of life outside of sports) are all related to some weakness in the Posterior Chain.  For example, Hamstring injuries are prevalent among footballers.  Calf injuries are commonplace in runners.  As an example of a non-sport-related injury, many sedentary office workers often complain of painful necks and shoulders. 

This is primarily due to poor posture, which is frequently caused by inadequate form in every physical movement we make in our daily lives.  Form is an integral part (perhaps the most critical part) of the Mojoh Method, a comprehensive approach to fitness and injury prevention that I have developed based on my personal experiences and research.

Another crucial point to note is that, in my experience, many injuries to other parts of the body often have their roots in another part of the body or a spinal imbalance.  For instance, a friend of mine had a serious foot injury – when he was a child, a tractor ran over his foot, and it didn’t heal properly.  This resulted in a permanent limp, and, of course, the human body, being the highly adaptable piece of machinery that it is, compensated and adapted; he just learned to live with it.  

But now, approaching his middle years, he has developed a lower back problem, and I don’t believe that anyone (apart from me) has linked this back to his foot injury.  

When you limp, you place additional stress on one side of your body, resulting in a muscular imbalance that effectively twists the spine, potentially leading to further problems. However, this is not a story of despair, but one of hope and encouragement, as it demonstrates the adaptability and resilience of the human body.  The Double Leg Bridge helps to balance out your spine and the muscles that support it.

And believe it from me (who has had terrible lower back pain), when you get a painful problem in your lower back, everything in your life will become 10 times harder and 10 times slower.  What then awaits you is an expensive chiropractor or physiotherapist, or a risky operation.  Not to mention the painkillers, muscle relaxants, and other pharmaceuticals.  My dogged default answer to all of this imbalanced mayhem would be “Just go to the Gym.”

I am speaking generally and from my own experience – and I am not advising anyone to avoid doctors and pharmaceuticals entirely.  That would be daft.  We all need them sometimes.  They certainly got me out of a few scrapes.  I think what I am trying to advise here, above all else, is that people in general should give more thought and priority to their lifestyles around sport, exercise, and the gym – to be more proactive and less reactive to the physical challenges of everyday life.

It only takes a few minutes to do each exercise, so in just 20 minutes each day, you can fit in several excellent therapeutic exercises, just like the double leg bridge – easy to execute, safe, and highly effective.

By ‘being your own doctor’, I mean taking responsibility for your own health and well-being, and making informed decisions about your fitness and exercise routines. 

Believe it and achieve it!  Use it or lose it!  Seek to make yourself a better, stronger, and more balanced person.

As I look around the gyms in modern times, I notice that many people seem fixated on training certain areas of their bodies, often neglecting less obvious (or less easy to train) areas.  This imbalance is a significant issue, and many individuals need to be educated about the importance of balance and not skipping over the challenging aspects. By understanding and implementing balanced training, you can significantly reduce the risk of injuries, providing a sense of security and protection for your physical well-being.  Exercises like the Double Leg Bridge are excellent for improving your balance, core stability, and posture.

For example, if you ask 100 men in any gym to list their favourite workout routines from most liked to least liked, how would it look?  Probably something like: 

1. Chest
2. Biceps
3. Triceps
4. Shoulders
5. Legs
6. Back
7. Abs & Core (Pilates and Stretching)
8. Glutes (bum)

If we ask the same question of 100 women, we find something different, probably something like:

1. Glutes (bum)
2. Abs (Tums) & Core (Pilates and Stretching)
   
3. Chest
4. Legs
5. Back
6. Biceps
7. Triceps

The key point here is that the Back and Posterior chain muscles are never given the priority they deserve.  Women do much better than men, but they don’t do well enough, in my opinion.  In the ’90s, when I first started frequenting gyms in search of ways to enhance my athletic training, I recall a distinct divide between men and women in their gym habits.  Women would be looking to give their breasts a lift or to get pert bottoms or tight tums.  And why not?  We all want to look better and feel better, don’t we?

I really do believe that all people should take time to master a variety of therapeutic exercises to carry with them throughout their lives – to guard against common ailments.  The Double Leg Bridge and several similar exercises are an excellent investment for a healthy future.

Let’s be honest about it, shall we?  When the average person looks at a woman, they are unlikely to prioritise the shape of her back, and the same applies when a woman looks at a man.  This is because a strong back and posterior chain is far less visually obvious and far less visually appealing than bulging biceps, pecs like Superman, or high-standing breasts.  

A few years ago, I met a man in a gym and noticed that his form was excellent and that he consistently worked hard.  We got talking later in the locker room, and what he said to me had a significant impact on me, slightly changing my way of thinking.  I had asked him what he was training for.  And his answer was simply that he prioritised health and well-being in his life—and that he had decided to train only his back and core muscles.  This astounded me.  But I had to agree that it sounded like an excellent idea.  We talked about injury prevention and the importance of the spine.

He had the right idea – he had memorised several lengthy routines involving stretches, both static and dynamic, and a good variety of Pilates with weight-based exercises.  His incredible dedication included the Double Leg Bridge and many other mainstays of Back, Shoulders and Pilates.

I related this to my own lower back problems earlier in my life.  For this reason, I had already started increasing the amount of Back and Pilates exercises during my gym visits. I had begun to build on my knowledge and repertoire, mixing my old-school experience with modern ideas and equipment.  And so I became keenly interested in Balance and Symmetry, and when I married this together with my lifelong obsession for Technique and Form,

I began to realise that I had developed a new type of training method, which encompasses everything from technique to injury prevention, psychology, and diet. This is how the Mojoh Method came to be.

I am currently writing an E-Book about recovery exercises for people with Back or Shoulder injuries and niggles – the Double Leg Bridge is definitely going to be included!